As the 2017-2018 school year comes to an end, juniors alike may be considering their futures. College is but only one of the many options to consider, but even just the idea of going to college can be confusing and complicated for many prospective college students. In a reality of crippling college costs, lists of extensive majors, different types of facilities and more to consider, the college process is daunting. With a wide range of college factors to contemplate, it’s no wonder there is a large availability of college resources to help aid students and families in their decisions.

Hidden underneath the depths of the world wide web, sometimes these incredible resources are forgotten about or never discovered, ending up underutilized for those that may need them. Here are a list of the top 4 underutilized college resources that are sure to make the college consideration process a whole lot easier.

1. Cappex

Cappex is a great all stop shop for all things college. Once you make an account, you take a informational quiz about your interests for the future as well as about your accomplishments and straight away, Cappex recommends colleges it thinks might be right for you. Cappex also has direct connections to colleges that allow them to give you straight-from-the-source information from schools that want to contact you, offering up numerous schooling opportunities and suggestions that might have been lost otherwise. Serving as a hub and offering a plethora of information to help compare and contrast colleges, Cappex even sends emails reminding about scholarship developments as well as colleges who have an interest in you. Cappex is a great option for anyone curious about or involved in the college process, and is a necessity for anyone looking into higher education.

2. College Board (Big Future)

The College Board may seem like a self-explanatory resource, but the College Board offers more than just information about SATs and AP exams. The College Board extends a branch of their website to a side website called “Big Future” that offers information in a variety of areas that will help you understand what will be best for you in the future. Because College Board is already really involved with your college process through testing like the SAT, there is less information to input about yourself and College Board already has some sense of your interests logged to consider in there results. College Board also offers unique tools to utilize like college consideration lists, a find your perfect college search, and more information to make your college information process much easier.

3. Niche

Niche is a holy grail website. Niche is one of the best ways to compare colleges with accurate and unbiased information about each schools. Niche is a website that allows users to review not only schools, but locations, neighborhoods, and the like to inform other interested parties. Specializing in rankings and information imputed by informed users and presenting an overall grade alongside detailed information on traits on the area, Niche’s wide-span of information is especially helpful. For colleges especially, the information Niche has available is compiled rom those that are either enrolled or have gone to those schools. The information offers extensive insight on categories like academics, campus life, rate of acceptance, average cost and so much more, making the information more accurate and unbiased than regular college rankings that are influenced by status or payed praise. It also gives you information about college scholarships that apply to your own individual goals like major, college, states, and ease of application. Niche supports possible college attendees in a way that other websites don’t, catering to the student in a enlightening way that makes understanding college options, a much more pleasant process.

4. Naviance

Our school already utilizes naviance as our primary tool for applying to colleges, getting recommendations, and keeping track of college information. Despite this, a lot of people don’t use the website to its full capacity. After using your school ID to log in, naviance allows you to enter in prospect colleges, take quizzes, on ideal colleges and helps schools align with their students prospective college experience. Besides organizing your own information, by simply clicking on colleges, the website will tell you extensive information on the college. Telling you information about the average college cost, average sat scores, college life, and even how many students from your own school get accepted and are planning to go to the college you’re exploring, the information can be a great help in understanding what school is the best fit for you.

Considering college is often a daunting task. With many different opinions available on the topic and so much information to absorb through college advertising, parents, and teachers, it’s important to remember that going to college is ultimately your decision. But if you’re considering college, these resources will help you find an easier way to get there and get to the college that’s best for you.